Powder metal (PM) components are made by mixing a desired powder composition (either prealloyed, admixed or both), compacting the powder mix into a green compact and then sintering the green compact to yield a sintered PM component.
It is known to impregnate the pores of PM components following sintering with resin or oil.
It is known to coat the surface of chromium-containing, ferrous-based wrought materials with a thin layer of nanoceria, which serves as a reactive catalyst when exposed to a high temperature or aqueous oxidizing environment to yield protective chromium oxide at the surface. While beneficial, if the protective chromium oxide layer becomes worn or damaged, the underlying substrate material can become exposed and undesirable oxides, such as Fe2O3 and FeO, can form, and so use nanoceria offers limited protection.